Add a Baggage Door to 3811MS

[TheKothes]

We have a 2017 3811MS Montana. My only small complaint is the lack of basement storage. This weekend I noticed my hot water heater was sticking out away from the wall on the outside of the RV. I started by looking inside and removed a panel under the cabinet that led me to the back of the unit for a visual inspection of what was going on and found nothing on the hot water heater from this angle. But I did discover a large area under the bathroom and bedroom dressing area that could be used for storage if there was a door on the exterior of the unit. It looks like I could put a 12"x36" door in and possibly two of them. I can see a vertical support that is supporting the bathroom floor and the dressing room floor so I would not want to cut through that. However I have no idea where the main supports are that are inside the outside wall and I am thinking I do not want to cut into those. I was curious if anyone has attempted to do this addition or not. If I had a set of plans I could confirm where the supports are and could easily make a decision whether to try it or not. On the water heater the factory only installed two little screws at the bottom sides of the heater unit. So the two screws and the silicone around the outside edge was all that was holding the hot water heater in place. There are 10 screws in it now and it will not be shaking loose again.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[beeje]

I did something similar to a previous Toy hauler I owned. The bedroom slide only had a window on one side. I ordered a window to match the existing one. Made a template and screwed it to the wall, and used a router to cut the hole, just through the wall covering on the inside and outside. There was aluminum framing going up through were I cut the hole. Sawzalled it out, added some blocking and installed the window set in silicon. Looked like it was supposed to be there. Never looked back and traded it in that way.